I Hate DRM

I haven't run a Mac in years, so I have no comments on that score.  But as far as Apple being a customer-friendly place, don't believe the hype.  Look at what's going on in France right now with the iTunes/iPod needing to be more open.  Apple is appalled that France would disrupt their iTunes lock-in scheme.  Those Hodgman and Long Apple ads are funny, but I wouldn't trust Apple just because they have good advertising.  Look at what they are trying to prevent their users from doing, then decide if you can live with them.

I agree.  I think Apple may be the lesser of 2 evils or at least a bit more consumer friendly than Microsoft.  My ultimate solution would be Linux but I am such a noob with Linux that it is hard getting over the learning curve.  I am just tired of everyone else thinking they have some right to my computer because I accepted some stupid EULA that no one reads.

One of the biggest problems with WGA is not only the more broad security issues it raises, but the fact that it's unreliable.  The WGA servers are constantly down preventing users from updating Windows for hours after a new system reload, sometimes days.  It's not really any more invasive than Product Activation - it's intentional misrepresentation from Microsoft is troubling, but hardly unexpected.  This is malady of the entire industry as a whole, not just Microsoft.  It's part of a broader effort by large technology firms to "lock down" competition in the marketplace and enforce DRM.  Think you're safe by buying a Mac or a Linux box?  Guess again.  Soon, hardware will be locked down to prevent the installation of "untrusted" software, including open source operating systems like Linux.  Apple has already cautiously entered this new arena by using the TCM (a hardware decrypter found in new computers) to validate the installation of OS X on all their new Intel-based Macs.

The only way to stop this tide of Orwellian control is to write your lawmaker and insist they do not support this technology everytime Hollywood and Microsoft cry about piracy (real or perceived), support organizations like Electronic Freedom Frontier that actively fight abuses of technology and privacy, and avoid buying products which use this technology (this isn't always possible in practice, but the idea is to hit these corporations in their wallets).  This is more than Microsoft, this is virtually every large software company and content industry (such as the MPAA and RIAA) trying to get their hands into the way you use technology.

I don't believe that choosing mac over windows is going to help.  My impression of Apple is that they have a rigid system where Apple controls everything about their computers, as can be seen from itunes and ipod.  Linux is probably the only good option, but linux is a lot harder to use than either windows or mac.  Also, Apple owns the most well-known and successful DRM-ed music store in the US.

Digital Rectal Manipulation!
It's heartening to see people who look past the hype and understand the true goals of DRM and it's true meaning. DRM actually stands for Digital Rectal Manipulation! It's a way for outside forces who've declared themselves Qualified Proctologists to insert their fists into our lifes with fear and intimidation. Billions of log intries on millions of computers that do nothing more than clog our systems and make sure their pockets are padded. But what's even scarier, is "Trusted Computing"!

"Treacherous Computing" is a more apt name!  Here's an exerpt from an article written by Richard Stallman (Founder of the GNU OpenSource Software Foundation).
***Who should your computer take its orders from? Most people think their computers should obey them, not obey someone else. With a plan they call "trusted computing", large media corporations (including the movie companies and record companies), together with computer companies such as Microsoft and Intel, are planning to make your computer obey them instead of you. (Microsoft's version of this scheme is called "Palladium".) Proprietary programs have included malicious features before, but this plan would make it universal.***
<then>
***In the past, these were isolated incidents. "Trusted computing" would make it pervasive. "Treacherous computing" is a more appropriate name, because the plan is designed to make sure your computer will systematically disobey you. In fact, it is designed to stop your computer from functioning as a general-purpose computer. Every operation may require explicit permission.***

As you see Trusted Computing appears to be quite innocuous, but reality has it putting it's Proctologist Fingers further up our ass than DRM has even dreamed of! What can we do to prevent this? Become Pirates ourselves? No!

But we can become Revolutionaries in what companies and organzations we support with our purchases and monies donated for what trully benefits us. We can rebel against the massive amount of Publicity Marketing Campaigns leveled at our pockets without making an attempt to see what we're actually getting for our dollars that benefits us!

I see referrences to Microsoft as if they're the only "Evil Empire" and dismissing the Corporate Thugs in companies such as Apple, Intel, AMD and many others as a necessary Evil of the Orwellian era we're entering. Apple for instance has it's finger even further up our DRMed asses than Microsoft with Paladium. How? Well in concert with Intel they have a very co-operative accomplice that is supplying a nice little control chip imbeded in your Apple Mac hardware. The very Hardware they now use to do their Digital Rectal Manipulations into our lifes without your even knowing it! Of course Steve Jobs's Proctogist DRM Finger is still providing him with an abundance of jolly smiles seeing our focus so heavily shifted to other Carpet Beggars and Corporate Pimps.

In operating systems only Linux stands as the Watchdog of our personal on and off line computing experience. Only Linux needs our help if we are to Win this Digital War of the future. It's growing fast and now with so many variations and distros it has something for all of us.

With Xgl Eye Candy it's fast becoming a very fun beautiful alternative. Just check out "YouTube" and see Xgl Linux's growing popularity. Although not all free, you always get your money's worth absolutely no doubt about that. It's even becoming easier to install than any of the competion with distros like "PCLinuxOS", "Sabayon Linux", "Dream Linux", "Mepis", "Knoppix", "OpenSuSE", and many others!  

With music, tv, and movies? Blockbuster films no longer just include Multi-million Dollar productions. Mom and Pop productions are making huge impact on the net. Artists and Musicians are now offering their creations to us directly and we need to support them, instead of padding and over stuffing the pockets of the few Carpet Beggars (record labels) and Pimps (producers) pushing their borrowed and ripped off Copyrights and DRM on us!

I smell Freedom in Revolution against the tyranny of these companies through our own government, used against us by these Corporate Thugs!
Don't buy into their hype! Leave them counting the money they've already lifted from our pockets with inferior self indulged worm riddled products!

One solution to Treacherous Comp-finement: build your own computer.

No, not from SCRATCH, I mean, get all the components you'll need, such as a hard disk, a video card, a motherboard, a processor, etc. and put it all together. That way, you'll have a TC-free computer.

One problem to this solution, however: the big greedy companies might find ways to get TC into the separate components. But it'll be a cold Friday in July (in North America, of course) before I live to see that day.

Trusted Computing has me worried as well.  I know that its intentions are good and that it isn't specifically designed with DRM in mind.  But I can say that about guns too.  They aren't specifically designed to let crooks murder people but they are used for that.  If the ability exists for companies to take advantage of TPM to create stronger controls/lockouts, they will.  Plain and simple.  To think otherwise is foolish.

The other thing I struggle with is getting people to really understand what DRM really means.  Most people I talk to really don't care.  I think most people just don't care unless it directly affects them...which DRM may not at this point but it will start affecting everyone soon.  The problem is that it will be too late once that happens.

Someone - I think Trusted computing is far worse than you think it is.  It's not the big manufacturers that are backing it, ie, Dell, Gateway, IBM.  It's the motherboard manufacturers themselves.  It is cheaper to produce all of their motherboards with a TPM than having a line with and without it.  Some analysts are saying that every computer in the next 5 years will come standard with TPM because of this fact.  So unfortunately, building your own computer won't be an option.  Unless you are talking about getting silicon, transistors, etc and building the board one ply at a time.

This is why it is important to act now.  This stuff is already happening and before we know it, there will be no choice.

This follows the line of the Sone rootkit idiots who said "Most people don't know what a rootkit is and shouldn't worry about it." BIG effing mistake.